The Great Wish - Chapter 36: The Crossroads of Choice (2)

Duke Bless had been helping the Rimone family, but only in a limited, indirect manner. He had hidden behind the scenes, throwing stones in secret, unwilling to expose himself too openly. Directly opposing the emperor to support the Rimone family came with too great a risk. Sienna had no intention of asking for such a sacrifice from him.

“Duke Bless will not do more than he already has,” she said.

“But Duke Bless said he follows Your Highness’s orders. If you were to just say the word…”

Sienna cut him off.

“Duke Rimone.”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Do you truly not know the reason?”

Doug answered without hesitation.

“I don’t, Your Highness.”

Sienna rose from her seat.

“Go home.”

“Your Highness…”

“We cannot continue this conversation if you insist on lying. Whatever happens to the Rimone family in the future, don’t blame me.”

“Are you saying you’re abandoning the Rimone family?”

Sienna chuckled.

“That’s quite the leap. I simply have no intention of helping someone who isn’t being honest with me.”

“Your Highness, the Rimone family is your strength. How can you so easily cut off your own arms and legs?”

“If my limbs are rotting, I’ll cut them off before the poison reaches my heart. It will be inconvenient, yes. But it’s better than suffering with limbs that no longer work.”

Doug’s face contorted. To Sienna, his expression, as though he had been betrayed, was more amusing than any comedy.

She turned on her heel and strode toward the exit. As she reached for the door handle, she heard a desperate cry behind her.

“Your Highness!”

She stopped and turned. Doug had stepped a few paces away from the sofa as if he were about to run after her. His eyes blazed with the desperation of a man cornered.

“Your Highness, please reconsider. Without the Rimone family, you’ll be finished too.”

Sienna let out a cold laugh. Both siblings, she thought, had the same habit of using threats as a negotiation tactic.

“If the end you speak of is me failing to become emperor, then that’s not such a bad end at all.”

Doug’s eyes widened. He knew Sienna’s character well enough to recognize that her words weren’t mere bravado. That was what shocked him the most—how easily she spoke of giving up the throne, the very thing that ruled the world, without the slightest hesitation.

“Remember, Duke Rimone, past tragedies can always repeat themselves. Once, the most powerful ducal house in the empire was wiped out in a single day. The emperor’s seat has that kind of power.”

“What… What do you expect me to do?”

Sienna looked at him coldly.

“Let me ask you again. Do you truly not know the reason?”

Doug clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. His hands trembled as they balled into fists.

Father… what should I do?

The period of joy Doug had experienced as the head of the Rimone family had been short-lived. Since the day he first began to miss his father’s presence, the intervals between such feelings had grown shorter and shorter. At some point, thoughts of his father had become a daily occurrence.

No matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t come up with a solution. What would Father have done in this situation? he often wondered, but the answer eluded him—he wasn’t his father.

I can’t be the one to ruin this family.

“I’ll tell you everything I know.”

Doug’s voice, weary and drained, finally broke the silence.

Sienna moved. She turned away from the door and walked back to the sofa. Passing Doug, she sat down. Doug, still standing with his head bowed, followed her lead and sat across from her.

At last, the two began a real conversation.

***

The emperor furrowed his brow as he received the chamberlain’s report.

“Are you saying Duke Rimone has truly left the capital?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

After hearing that the duke had entered the Sun Palace to pay his respects, followed by a visit to the Silver King’s palace, the emperor had thought nothing of it—simply assuming the duke was making a routine greeting. After all, the Silver King was a connection Duke Rimone could never sever.

But it was odd that the duke had left the palace immediately after his visit to the Silver King without even meeting his own sister. The emperor had sent someone to confirm whether the duke had returned to his estate, but instead, he had left the capital entirely, heading straight for his duchy.

The emperor narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingers against the armrest.

He left right after meeting with the Silver King? Why? Could it be a coincidence?

The emperor didn’t suspect that the Silver King was orchestrating anything outside his awareness. He received regular reports on the Silver King’s activities, though the Silver King was not under any special scrutiny.

The emperor’s throne stood higher than anyone else’s. From that lofty perch, he was confident that he saw everything happening within the palace walls. While he couldn’t overhear every conversation, he always knew who was meeting with whom.

He had even known when Marquis Rad climbed the palace walls and slipped into the Silver King’s bedchamber. The emperor had clicked his tongue in disapproval but had decided not to act as long as no vulgar rumors spread.

Come to think of it…

The emperor recalled a recent scandal involving the Silver King and Marquis Raad, which had erupted when the two were caught in a tryst at a remote palace—a situation the emperor hadn’t foreseen. He had been displeased that such an event had occurred outside his watch, but it was mere gossip. He had decided not to harshly punish the officials responsible for monitoring the situation.

If it hadn’t involved the Silver King, the emperor might not have bothered summoning both the marquis and the prince for a scolding. He had only punished the marquis out of spite, to remind him not to treat the palace as his personal playground.

The emperor assumed that the only reason their actions had remained discreet was due to Marquis Raad’s manipulations. The Silver King didn’t have such cunning.

The Silver King’s schedule was transparent, his daily routine predictable, and the people he met with were always the same. He wasn’t the type to secretly scheme, which is why the emperor’s reports on him were mostly formalities.

But this time, I’m certain Marquis Raad hasn’t interfered…

Someone had disrupted the emperor’s plan to destabilize the Rimone Duchy. Initially, he had suspected the Raad family, but after investigating, he found no evidence of their involvement. Moreover, the Raad family had no reason to help Duke Rimone.

Especially not now that the alliance between Marquis Raad and the Iron King has been dissolved.

Without the alliance, Marquis Raad no longer needed to consider the Iron King’s grudges against the Rimone family.

Although the Iron King’s close aides had tried to keep the alliance’s dissolution under wraps, secrets have a way of leaking. One of the Iron King’s confidants had let it slip at a drinking party, and the news had quietly spread.

Most of the well-connected already knew about it, though there was still much speculation about the reason for the fallout.

Some even entertained the idea that Marquis Raad might have shifted his loyalty to the Silver King, but this was a minority opinion.

Most people dismissed it, saying things like:

“No way. That’s absurd.”

“Marquis Raad betrayed the Iron King because of a woman? Ridiculous.”

“If he betrayed the Iron King for the Silver King, it must have been part of a grander scheme to place the Silver King on the throne.”

“If it were a one-sided betrayal, there would’ve been a bigger uproar. The reason must be something else.”

But the emperor sided with the minority opinion.

He knew all too well how far a man crazed by a woman could go, having experienced it firsthand.

He could never forgive his father, the late emperor, for killing Edith. He had wanted revenge against his father. The forces currently destabilizing the Rimone family had been in the making for years. It had all started as part of his preparation to strike against the late emperor—though he hadn’t been able to act before his father’s death.

Had the late emperor lived just a few more years, the empire would have witnessed its first case of regicide within the royal family.

It’s possible that Marquis Raad helped Duke Rimone at the Silver King’s request. I’ll need to look into this again.

The emperor’s gaze turned cold. He would not forgive those who dared interfere. After the death of the late emperor, his rage had nowhere to go, leaving him with an empty heart.

When he discovered that the late Duke Rimone had deceived him, the emperor felt both fury and exhilaration. He had found a new purpose for his life. His target was reset.

Originally, he had planned to wait a few more years before beginning his move. But meeting Jeffrey had stirred old memories, reigniting the suppressed anger within him. Night after night, he woke, unable to control the rage boiling inside him. After a few such episodes, he thought, Why should I hold back?

And so, the emperor took action. For the first time in a long while, he felt truly alive. The anger that had layered deep within his heart for years was dark and consuming.

The emperor summoned the chief chamberlain. After receiving the emperor’s brief orders, the chamberlain departed. Moments later, a figure dressed entirely in black, from head to toe, appeared silently, kneeling on one knee.

“Investigate thoroughly whether the Rad family was involved,” the emperor commanded.

“By your command,” the figure replied before vanishing as quietly as they had come.

A few days later, the emperor received a report. The results remained unchanged, yet something still felt off, nagging at him.

Should I place a spy by the Silver King’s side?

At that moment, the chief chamberlain entered and bowed deeply.

“What is it?” asked the emperor.

“Your Majesty, the soldiers dispatched to the allied nations have returned. Their commander requests an audience.”

The emperor nodded and rose from his seat. He had already received reports about the soldiers’ return through a messenger, and even earlier, he had met with two secret envoys from the allied nations.

Both sides had tried to manipulate the situation, using the returning imperial soldiers as a cover to send their own representatives, as if in a secret game of maneuvering.

The emperor had already made up his mind about which side he would support.

“Convene an emergency council meeting.”

All that remained was to announce his decision, masked under the guise of the council’s “recommendation.”

***